Drive My Car
by StariAri
Summary: AU- Modern Zutara fic. After Katara's first day at school, she gets a ride home from none other than Zuko. One Shot! Not a song fic, but does revolve around the song Drive My Car by The Beatles.


The first day of school was rough. Advanced English, History, Anatomy and Physiology, P.E., _and _Home Economics? Katara was going to kill herself with these classes. Not to mention she didn't even know her away around the damn school. She did meet a couple nice people here and there; Aang, Toph, and Suki. They were a little weird, but her new friends nonetheless.

Okay, so weird was an understatement; Aang was into Yoga for Spirits sake! Toph was the captain of the school's wrestling team, and the only female! Suki and her friends made up the school's fencing team and called themselves "warriors". Katara thought that that was a little silly, but she didn't tell Suki that. Her new school – The United Four Nations High School – was so different from Southern Waters High School; the one she was used to.

On the contrary, she also met a couple of people who were… Not as nice. From now on, if someone ever mentioned words such as 'hostile', 'dirty', or 'scum', the first name that would pop up in her head would be Jet. As far as she knew, he could go die in a hole for all she cared. Who the hell sexually harasses someone on their first day? If her brother Sokka was there when Jet squeezed her ass, Jet would have been dead.

Another name that left a sour taste was Mr. Pakku, her dreaded Anatomy and Physiology teacher. Based on the behavior he showed today, he was a sexist, good for nothing, terrible soul who believed the term 'doctor' only belonged in the hands of men. Who the hell gives boys extra-credit for _no_ reason? She would deal with him for the rest of the school year, but she couldn't wait to prove him wrong.

Now that the school day was over, she needed to find her ride home. Sokka had taken an instant liking to Suki and promised to run a couple laps on the track with her right before football practice – leaving Katara to find their carpool by herself. Carpool as in Zuko, the multi-millionaire, business-inheriting 16 year old. She knew she should be excited, but she wasn't. Most girls would have killed to be in her position, but honestly, she didn't feel like making new friends at the moment.

Zuko's mansion was next to hers, leading their fathers to agree on a carpooling idea. 'It will be a good way to make a new friend, Kat,' her father had said with a smile. Katara wasn't so sure at the time, but now, she was willing to do anything to go straight home. Well, whatever the big empty building she now lived in was.

Zuko had lived in a big house his whole life, but Katara's family started from humble beginnings. It was only seven years ago that her and her family were in a little town house, barely paying off rent. It was only seven years ago that her father's company – Hakoda's Stink Bombs – became extremely popular to children, making him a millionaire practically overnight. It was only seven years ago, that her mother was murdered by a burglar.

She hated when she thought about her mother's death, when the memory flashed before her eyes as if it happened yesterday, but she did remember one eerie coincidence. Zuko's mother went missing in a house fire the same day. Ozai, Zuko's father, was rumored to be responsible for both deaths, but never went to court.

The thought of Zuko and his family reminded her that she needed to find him, so she pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket Hakoda had given her that morning with Zuko's phone number written. 'Imagine if I let the paparazzi get a hold of this,' she thought to herself. 'He would hate me forever.' Dialing the number on her phone, she began to get nervous. What did his voice sound like? What if he thought she was annoying? Or even worse; what if he actually _liked_ Katara?

"Hello?" A smooth, deep voice answered.

"Uh… Hey, is this Zuko?" Katara asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, who's this?" The smooth voice replied. Katara decided to ignore how disappointed she was that he sounded bored to death.

"K-Katara. You know, the uh, girl you're carp-"

"Yeah carpool, whatever." Zuko interrupted. "Just tell me where you are and I'll pick you up." Katara could literally hear him roll his eyes through the phone. This is Zuko? What happened to the cute teenage heartthrob everyone was talking about? This Zuko was just plain rude.

"I'm at the… front, I think?" She was bothered by Zuko's behavior, but she wouldn't spend time making him suffer. She just wanted to get home.

"With the banner and the –"

"Marquis. Yeah, there." Katara said with annoyance. She wouldn't be the only one who got interrupted.

"Are you right under a tree wearing blue, with your hair in a side braid?"

"Yeah that's me."

"Get in the car, I just pulled up."

"Which one?" She asked, half-yelling.

"The red convertible." He half-yelled back. She immediately saw him, in his fancy polished car and luscious black hair. Her jaw almost dropped at the sight. 'Screw him for being so goddamn beautiful'. She quickly hung up and made her way to the car.

"Get in." Zuko said, not taking his eyes off road. Katara sat in the passenger seat and didn't say a word.

After a minute or two of driving on the road, things became incredibly awkward; maybe because of their yelling on the phone, or just simply because they didn't even know each other. Desperate for a conversation starter, she searched the car, finding it spotless except for a _Beatle's #1 Hit's_ CD.

"So you uh… like the Beatles?" Katara asked hopefully. She silently prayed to the spirits that Zuko wasn't going to ignore her.

"I guess. They were my mother's favorite." Zuko explained with a monotone voice.

"Really? Our moms were alike! Her absolute favorite was _Drive My Car_."

"Yes, that was my mother's favorite song too. She would play it so often that I memorized the lyrics by heart."

"I'm not surprised, moms are like that." Katara said with a sad smile. "D-do you think you could… Uh… Play it?" She asked.

"Why not?" He said with a shrug. When he reached the next stop sign, he put the CD in the car's audio system and set it to track number four. The song flowed through Katara's mind as if she had opened an album full of photos and memories. It was bittersweet knowing that her mom wasn't with her anymore, but she had learned to cope with it.

She looked over to find Zuko's gaze glued to the scenery of roads and tree-filled hills that surrounded them, but something was different. Instead of his stone-like stare, his eyes softened, almost as if they belonged to a young child. She didn't have to ask to know who Zuko was thinking about. Zuko's mother was – or is, a beautiful woman. People who were close to the family had said that she played a strong rule in Zuko's life. It reminded her of the relationship she had with her own mother.

The chorus of the song began, and just when she thought things couldn't be any more different, Zuko began quietly humming and occasionally singing along with John Lennon.

"You really _do_ know all of the lyrics." Katara said with a sweet smile

"I don't lie, Katara." He said with a smirk.

"I never accused you of such actions." Katara said while her smile morphed into a smirk of her own. Katara began to sing along with the chorus as well, slowly getting louder and louder. She looked over to Zuko, who still had the eyes of a sweet child, and chuckled.

"What're you laughing at?" Zuko asked. "Can't take your eyes off me?" He asked sheepishly.

"I was just thinking," Katara began, "that I probably know the words better than you do." She challenged

"Impossible." Zuko answered.

"Wanna bet?" Katara asked with a newfound confidence running through her vains.

"Sure. Loser pays for dinner?" Zuko just about shattered that newfound confidence. Katara blushed. Was he asking her out..?

"Deal." She said as she tried to hide her flushed cheeks. "Loser pays for dinner – _at_ Starry Nights." She finished. Zuko's smirk displayed more cockiness than he had before. Starry Nights was the most expensive restaurant in town, and he was excited to see Katara lose.

"Sounds good to me." Zuko confirmed.

"Great. We'll start singing along with the Beatles at the third chorus. First one to hesitate or forget a word loses." Katara said, impressed with her ability to create a fun little game. She would win this bet, _for sure_.

"Perfect." Could his voice get any smoother? Katara didn't think so.

"Ready?" She asked with a smile.

"Of course," Zuko answered. "I'll start."

"Be my guest." Katara said as the verse ended and the chorus took over.

"Baby, you can drive my car," Zuko began.

"Yes I'm gonna be a star." Katara finished. Was Zuko supposed to sing that well? That was an advantage! He was a distraction!

"Baby, you can drive my car,"

"And maybe I'll – " Katara's heart skipped a beat when Zuko looked right into her eyes. "love too?" She whispered. Love too? That definitely wasn't right, but it didn't matter. What mattered were Zuko's eyes. Zuko's beautiful golden orbs in perfect proportion on his face. This was so not fair.

"Wrong. It's actually, 'and maybe I'll love you'." Zuko smirked. Katara bit her lip and looked away. How could she loose the bet? Now she has to pay for her and Zuko's dinner at an extremely luxury restaurant. Where the hell would she get that money?

"That's not fair! All you had to was 'Baby, you can drive my car'!" Katara protested

"Well, that wouldn't have been the case if you hadn't screwed up." Zuko protested back. Katara mumbled something about cute boys and unfair advantages. "Any way, I definitely can't wait for dinner."

"What dinner…?" Maybe if she acted like she forgot, the bet would be lifted.

"Katara, don't play dumb with me, I'll pick you up at seven on Saturday night, okay? Don't forget to make dinner reservations!" Zuko reminded her. Time had flown by, and before she knew it, Zuko was already in front of her house.

"Yeah, Yeah. Whatever." Katara replied. "Thanks for the ride, Zuko." She forced herself to sound happy.

"Anytime, Katara." The way he said her name made her knees week. "It looks like I'll be driving you home every day for the rest of the year." He added with a trademark smirk.

"Maybe you'll even let me drive us home a couple of times, eh?" Katara felt proud when Zuko lightly chuckled, even though it wasn't supposed to be a joke.

"Yeah, sure," he said sarcastically. "You'd have to make me call you 'baby' before I'd let you drive my car." There goes the smirk again.

"That doesn't seem too hard." Katara said and smirked back. "See you tomorrow Zuko."

"Bye," he said in a sing-song voice.

With that, Katara marched straight to her room and shut the door, not wanting to think about the piles of homework she had to finish. Instead, she would think of ways to prove Mr. Pakku wrong, or find ways to get Jet in trouble. She could even try to figure out how to get money to pay off her "date" that Saturday night, or better yet…

She could discover ways to get Zuko to call her 'baby'.


End file.
